Boo hoo, we miss SoWal already but we're quickly getting back to our home routine. Here's what we did in lovely SoWal:
Rosemary Beach: We finally bought some used bikes and biked to Rosemary Beach a few days. We usually just see the construction areas at Rosemary Beach, but if you go toward the South side of ThirtyA and go left when you get close to the water, you can see what much of Rosemary Beach will look like when it's finished. I was very impressed.
Alys Beach: We rode our bikes and walked to Fonville Press. They have this funn book of quotes that people write and leave for the next customers. We added a few quotations ourselves for the book. It will be one of our traditions for sure.
Seaside: We really enjoy going to Seaside off-season. We made some lovely pottery at All Fired Up. That, too, will be one of our new traditions. I really liked all the help we got (they even had a book of ideas for colors, shapes, etc.). And we spent about 3 hours there and could have gone longer except we started getting hungry. And our pottery came out beautiful (though I don't have a photo of my plate with the colorful fish on it, or the two wine stoppers the kids made for their uncle Buck, or the coffee mug and box the kids made, or the nice country-style plate my sister made). We had massages at Aquarius and those were very relaxing. I liked the atmosphere and the masseuses there. It was unhurried and we felt pampered.
Beach: Of course, we went to the beach most days. There clearly was some serious wave action near our beach that took a chunk out of some of the sand and left some 2-3 foot cliffs of peat. If we look to the left, we see the smooth white sand. If we look to the right, we see the little cliffs of peat. Interestingly, everyone seems drawn to the cliffy side of the beach because it was so interesting to walk around (kids, fishermen, people walking by). The kids made some huge sand paintings with the broken up peat. Kept them busy for hours. That Mother Nature sure is unpredictable and keeps things interesting.
Food: Amore was excellent -- loved the whole roasted garlic on the pizza. Red Bar always a sure hit -- loved the seafood stuffed eggplant (and sharing Supermom's birthday). We really enjoy the 3 course winter special at Cafe 30A and go there for our daugther's birthday every year (Ok, it has only been 3 years, but we count that a tradition). We always enjoy Angelinas, especially the kids. Coffee and tea and pastries at Fonville Press. And we love the Back Porch in Destin. Yet we always leave wishing we had tried more new places -- Gravel Road, D&K's, the new Thai restaurant -- so much food, so little time.
Porch: Spent time reading on the porch/by the pool, eating lunch on the porch, doing puzzles on the dining room table, watching American Idol (also one of our beach traditions for our Feb trip), playing "Worst Case Scenario" (great game in which you have to select the right thing to do in a crisis -- out of 4 answers -- e.g., how to you release a zipper that's stuck on skin; what do you do if stung by a scorpion; what are the first signs of arsenic poisoning -- we said "yuck" a LOT during that game, but had a lot of funn, too.)
Didn't see many SoWallers. It's hard for me to coordinate when I'm travelling with the family because we pretty much just hang out and, as those of you with kids know, even doing a lot of nothing takes quite a bit of coordination if you're the parent! But I'll be back in late April on my own for the late spring cottage cleaning and hope to see lots of SoWallers then.
Two cottages in our community sold so it looks like things may be turning around (and I think the people who bought the cottages are going to be VERY happy). I look forward to meeting the new neighbors.
It's amazing how quickly a week flies by! Let's see, what have I done since I got home? It's cold outside so I read magazines by the fire, napped for 3 hours on Friday (we had a 6:00 am flight out of Fort Walton on Friday), cleaned the basement, peeked at some of the work waiting for me on Monday morning, cooked healthy muffins from "In the Kitchen with Rosie (Oprah's former cook), walked on the treadmill, lifted some weights, will have dinner with friends at our house tonight (pasta with meat sauce), and will do taxes all day Sunday after reading the Sunday morning paper by the fire.
Other than having to do the taxes, life is very very good!
Rosemary Beach: We finally bought some used bikes and biked to Rosemary Beach a few days. We usually just see the construction areas at Rosemary Beach, but if you go toward the South side of ThirtyA and go left when you get close to the water, you can see what much of Rosemary Beach will look like when it's finished. I was very impressed.
Alys Beach: We rode our bikes and walked to Fonville Press. They have this funn book of quotes that people write and leave for the next customers. We added a few quotations ourselves for the book. It will be one of our traditions for sure.
Seaside: We really enjoy going to Seaside off-season. We made some lovely pottery at All Fired Up. That, too, will be one of our new traditions. I really liked all the help we got (they even had a book of ideas for colors, shapes, etc.). And we spent about 3 hours there and could have gone longer except we started getting hungry. And our pottery came out beautiful (though I don't have a photo of my plate with the colorful fish on it, or the two wine stoppers the kids made for their uncle Buck, or the coffee mug and box the kids made, or the nice country-style plate my sister made). We had massages at Aquarius and those were very relaxing. I liked the atmosphere and the masseuses there. It was unhurried and we felt pampered.
Beach: Of course, we went to the beach most days. There clearly was some serious wave action near our beach that took a chunk out of some of the sand and left some 2-3 foot cliffs of peat. If we look to the left, we see the smooth white sand. If we look to the right, we see the little cliffs of peat. Interestingly, everyone seems drawn to the cliffy side of the beach because it was so interesting to walk around (kids, fishermen, people walking by). The kids made some huge sand paintings with the broken up peat. Kept them busy for hours. That Mother Nature sure is unpredictable and keeps things interesting.
Food: Amore was excellent -- loved the whole roasted garlic on the pizza. Red Bar always a sure hit -- loved the seafood stuffed eggplant (and sharing Supermom's birthday). We really enjoy the 3 course winter special at Cafe 30A and go there for our daugther's birthday every year (Ok, it has only been 3 years, but we count that a tradition). We always enjoy Angelinas, especially the kids. Coffee and tea and pastries at Fonville Press. And we love the Back Porch in Destin. Yet we always leave wishing we had tried more new places -- Gravel Road, D&K's, the new Thai restaurant -- so much food, so little time.
Porch: Spent time reading on the porch/by the pool, eating lunch on the porch, doing puzzles on the dining room table, watching American Idol (also one of our beach traditions for our Feb trip), playing "Worst Case Scenario" (great game in which you have to select the right thing to do in a crisis -- out of 4 answers -- e.g., how to you release a zipper that's stuck on skin; what do you do if stung by a scorpion; what are the first signs of arsenic poisoning -- we said "yuck" a LOT during that game, but had a lot of funn, too.)
Didn't see many SoWallers. It's hard for me to coordinate when I'm travelling with the family because we pretty much just hang out and, as those of you with kids know, even doing a lot of nothing takes quite a bit of coordination if you're the parent! But I'll be back in late April on my own for the late spring cottage cleaning and hope to see lots of SoWallers then.
Two cottages in our community sold so it looks like things may be turning around (and I think the people who bought the cottages are going to be VERY happy). I look forward to meeting the new neighbors.
It's amazing how quickly a week flies by! Let's see, what have I done since I got home? It's cold outside so I read magazines by the fire, napped for 3 hours on Friday (we had a 6:00 am flight out of Fort Walton on Friday), cleaned the basement, peeked at some of the work waiting for me on Monday morning, cooked healthy muffins from "In the Kitchen with Rosie (Oprah's former cook), walked on the treadmill, lifted some weights, will have dinner with friends at our house tonight (pasta with meat sauce), and will do taxes all day Sunday after reading the Sunday morning paper by the fire.
Other than having to do the taxes, life is very very good!
